Ranmic

Thank you all. As usual great advice and I appreciate it.

Hi everyone! As usual I appreciate everyone's input and opinions on all the subjects I read about here. Now on to my question. I have been seeing a VA Doctor for about 6 months now for a couple of MH issues I've had. Some are related to my hearing loss (service connected) and depression and some are related to an event when I was on active duty. The VA doc gave me a diagnosis of "unspecified traumatic stress disorder", insomnia and anxiety. My PCP based off of the phycologist opinion prescribed me a med to control the anxiety, stress and depression. My question is if I decide to file a claim for VA compensation should I wait awhile longer seeing as I have only been seeing a doctor for about 6 months or does that really matter? Second I felt comfortable filing a claim on my own for my hearing issue and knees on my own but I'm a little hesitate on this one. Should I use a VSO/DAV group or just move forward with all my current evidence like I have in the past. I'm comfortable filing the claim I just want to make sure I don't miss anything important. Thank you again for your help.

Thank you all for responding. I really appreciate it. At this point I have not been "diagnosed" by the VA doctor, just seeing him for counseling sessions.

Evening everyone. I'd like to get an opinion from some of you. Without going into detail I've been seeing a VA mental health physician over the past few months about an issue I have that causes depression for me. Today I dropped on him an issue of a coworker while on AD that committed suicide in the building we worked in one day. I explained to him all my thought's on it and how it's affected me over the years. This happened in 1998 so obviously I've kept it all to myself for a very long time. I had a close friend of mine commit suicide about three years ago that I think kidna compounded my thoughts on this event from 1998. Without giving deep details on this do you think I have a reason to pursue a VA claim for an event that happened to me in 1998 while in AD? I'm sure this sounds ridiculous but as I told the Doctor it's been in and on my mind since the day it happened but I kept it to myself to continue "the mission" as required. I have not been prescribed any medications for my depression (I'm hesitant to come out and ask) and to date it's been labeled as "moderate", but it does impact me often. Than you.

Thanks for the reply. At the moment no I am not.

I am currently service connected at 0% for hearing loss and have an upcoming C&P hearing exam (request for increase) for my hearing in hopes of getting a % of at least 10%. My question is even if my hearing loss if significant but the Maryland CNC test yields decent results (speech recognition is normal) would I have any chance at getting an increase over the current 0%? Thank you in advance.

Buck, I apologize for the confusion, I am rated for Tinnitus (10%) and Hearing (0%). I should have been more clear in my post. I was referring to the MH aspect as a secondary condition. I plan on going to the VA hopefully in the very near future and getting an eval. Hopefully with that I can file for an increase. Sorry again if I was not clear.

Sorry to drag this back up by I finally got around to setting up an appointment with the VA (actually waiting on them to call me back now) to have a MH evaluation done in ref to my tinnitus and hearing. To say I'm nervous is an understatement because I have never had an exam or talked to a Dr about this type of stuff. I guess I didn't realize sometimes how frustrated I get with my hearing sometimes until I actually thought about it recently. I can see how MH could be be a secondary effect of tinnitus and hearing loss. Any words of advice for me from anyone before I do go to the Dr to talk?

Actually they did and the results were pretty good. I think I was 100% in one ear and 96% in the other. The problem is they turn the volume up and sitting in a quiet booth kinda put me behind the curve. Take me out in public and introduce back ground noise and then I'm screwed. Sounds like I wont be going above 0% now.....hahaha. Those damned beeps are almost impossible to hear though.

I am currently 0% for my hearing but it was services connected last year. I recently went to a private ENT and had a hearing test done by them and filed for an increase for my hearing. I'm hoping they will raise it above 0% but obviously I have no idea what they are going to do. My question is does anyone know at what point the VA decides there is enough hearing loss for compensation? My ENT told me I am at about 40% hearing loss according to my test they conducted so I submitted that as evidence for an increase.

Thank you very much!

I really appreciate everyone's input on this. Tons of good data. Since I am currently rated for 10% (Tinnitus) and 0% hearing loss am I to understand all I need to do it get a new hearing test (and if showing hearing loss since last tested during my old C&P exam) and submit that as a requested "increase" for my current 0% rating or file an entirely new claim? When I originally filed my claim it was for Tinnitus and Hearing. Both got SC'd but Tinnitus got me 10%.

Thank you. I do have access so I'll go look. If they don't do you have any recommendation on where I would get them if at all possible? I'm filing for an increase so I'm not sure if I actually need them seeing as how I'm hoping the will send me for a new test. Or should I just go to an ENT/Audiologist and have new test performed and use that?

So I am planning on filing a claim for an increase for hearing loss as I am currently at 0% but SC. When I was initially tested a couple of years ago it was though a Doctor that the VA sent me to during my C&P process. I asked the Doctor before I left if I could get a copy of the test/records he performed but he said it would be available through the VA. In the past year or so I have not been able to locate a copy of those results even though they did yield me Service connected hearing loss. Does anyone have any tips on how I can get a copy of those records so I can submit as evidence for my hearing loss increase request? Hoping they will send me for another C&P as I was kinda surprised when they put me at 0....even though I was happy to see they at least service connected me. Thank you in advance.

Funny you say that because I "check out" in meetings and group conversations some times because of the noise around me and me not being able to hear what is being said. It does suck and I really don't like it but that's the mentality I have developed over the years. I do try to listen as best as I can and I try to interact because I don't want to be "that guy" and seem anti-social or a non-team player. If you don't mind, what is MH? Sorry it that's a dumb question.

yeah, I agree with that analogy. I have a really difficult time hearing my 6 y/o due to her high pitched voice and if she whispers in my ear I pretty much hear nothing other than the noise. I tell my wife all the time if there is background noise (restaurant, pool....etc) I'm screwed for hearing a full conversation. My wife is awesome though and she knows that so when we are out in public and someone ask a question she knows when to answer for me.....hahah

Thank you both. I really appreciate the advice.

Thank you GBArmy and Buck. Yes, I am currently at 10% for tinnitus and 0% for hearing but my hearing is Service connected as is my tinnitus. I appreciate the tips and the next time I go see my PCP I will ask if she can refer me to the ENT to see if I can get fitted for a pair. To be hones I'd like to see if they help minimize the tinnitus and also I'm curious to what sounds I've been missing......LOL

I am pretty sure I'm posting this questioning the wrong forum so for that I apologize in advance. I have had tinnitus for years and being Service connected I was told I was eligible for VA hearing aids (my hearing sucks too) that may help. I've been told that the hearing aids they have really do help a lot with the constant ringing. Does anyone on here currently have any from the VA and do they really work? It would be nice to get relief sometimes if they actually do work.

While researching how to file for an increase for my hearing (currently 0% but SCD) I was reading an article that made the statement "and your entire file may be subject to review not just the condition you want to have reviewed". I have two other conditions currently rated right now so my question is does this mean they may review the current ones also? If so have have they ever been known to decrease it? Basically I don't want them to mess with me currently disabilities and ratings.

I wanted to post a followup to my original post. I never did get a C&P for my condition that I actually thought I would. Turns out that one was denied but it also turns out that I got a nice surprise. I filled a claim for both knees and my eyes (glaucoma) and was pretty sure the glaucoma claim would be favored because of the amount of documentation I have on it. My knees had very little and as a matter of fact the rep I spoke with early on said that one would more than likely get denied due to lack of evidence. Fast forward, I got denied for glaucoma and a Service Connected for both knees that I didn't think had a chance. Funny how that works. Thank you all for your help and guidance over the past months and answering all my questions.

thank you both for your information.

I recently had a C&P exam and the VA made their decision based off of it plus my other evidence. I have not seen what the C&P Doc sent to the VA for them to base their decision off of. How do I find that info? I've looked on the VA site and the eBenefits site with no luck.

I posted the below question in another section and then thought I should have put it here so I apologize for the double post. I have a combined claim in right now and I just had a C&P exam for one of the conditions recently so I KINDA thought I'd be getting one for my second claimed condition soon. But today I noticed that my claim on the VA site says "your claim moved to preparation for notification". Any idea why i never heard anything about my second claimed condition? I thought I'd definitely get a C&P for that one because of the supporting documentation I submitted but so far have not. Guessing the obvious would be that they didn't see enough evidence to warrant a C&P exam...or is it possible they had enough evidence and decided not to have me go have a C&P exam?

I have a combined claim in right now and I just had a C&P exam for one of the conditions recently so I KINDA thought I'd be getting one for my second claimed condition soon. But today I noticed that my claim on the VA site says "your claim moved to preparation for notification". Any idea why i never heard anything about my second claimed condition? I thought I'd definitely get a C&P for that one because of the supporting documentation I submitted but so far have not. Guessing the obvious would be that they didn't see enough evidence to warrant a C&P exam...or is it possible they had enough evidence and decided not to have me go have a C&P exam?